USA football legend Alex Morgan retires ahead of birth of second child

With two FIFA Women’s World Cup titles and an Olympic gold medal, Alex Morgan is retiring from professional soccer as one of the United States national team’s most prolific scorers and as someone who helped lead the fight for equal pay.

The 35-year-old Morgan, who said she is pregnant with her second child, made the announcement on Thursday in a social media post. At times during the heartfelt message, Morgan was near tears.

“This decision wasn’t easy, but at the beginning of 2024 I felt in my heart and soul that this was the last season that I would play soccer,” she said. “Soccer has been a part of me for 30 years, and it was one of the first things that I ever loved. I gave everything to this sport and what I got in return was more than I could have ever dreamed of.”

Morgan will play her final match with her club team, the San Diego Wave of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), on Sunday at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California, the US.

Over the course of a 15-year career with the US national team, Morgan made an impact on and off the field, fighting for equal pay and speaking out about social justice issues.

In addition to World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019, Morgan also won a gold medal with the US at the 2012 London Olympics and a bronze at the Tokyo Games in 2021. She first joined the national team in 2009.

Morgan played in 224 matches for the national team (the ninth all-time) – with 123 goals (fifth all-time) and 53 assists (ninth all-time). She was named the US Soccer Player of the Year in 2012 and 2018.

Her final game with the US came on June 4, 2024, against South Korea. She was not on the roster of players who won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

Morgan was a trailblazer for equal pay in US football

Morgan was among five players who filed a complaint with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2016 for wage discrimination. The players sued US Soccer in 2019, citing inequitable pay and treatment compared to the men’s national team. The lawsuit was settled and in 2022 the sides agreed to collective bargaining agreements that pay both teams equally.

“Success for me is defined by never giving up and giving your all, and I did just that,” Morgan said. “I’m giving my all every single day on the field, and I did that giving my all in the relentless push for investment in women’s sports, because we deserve that.”

Morgan has played for the San Diego Wave since 2022. She also had stints with the Portland Thorns and the Orlando Pride during the course of her NWSL career. In 2022, she was the league’s Golden Boot winner for most goals. She also played internationally for Lyon and Tottenham.

Morgan and her husband Servando Carrasco have a daughter, Charlie, who was born in 2020.

“Charlie came up to me the other day and said that when she grows up, she wants to be a soccer player,” Morgan said. “It just made me immensely proud, not because I wish for her to become a soccer player when she grows up, but because a pathway exists that even a four-year-old can see now. We’re changing lives and the impact we have on the next generation is irreversible, and I’m proud of the hand I had in making that happen, in pushing the game forward and leaving it in a place that I’m so happy and proud of.